California Welcome Center Gilroy — Attraction in Gilroy

Visited in October 2024

Dropped by during a stop from Monterey Bay back to San Francisco. Little cute visitor center - we were greeted by friendly and knowledgeable (not only about Gilroy but also other parts of the state) lady in charge. Lots of local souvenirs and some foodstuffs (mostly snacks) on sale, as well as brochures and maps of various tourist destinations across California available for free. Couldn't resist to buy some of these to the loved ones.

From one of the books in display (on sale too), I realized the namesake of the town had quite a life. Dude travelled across the world from Scotland to California, changed his identity, and became a fluent Spanish speaker where at the time there was almost no English speakers in the area. Eventually he became a wealthy landowner and local leader, and the rest of the then-budding community decided to name the...

About what you'd expect for a welcome center. Lots of non-local merch showing local pride and about 1,000 pamphlets.

We had to stop to charge the car so we figured we'd stop in. The staff was very friendly, we had a nice conversation as we killed a few minutes looking at the garlic t-shirts and ceramic bowls.

The dining guide has a section for "Family & Fine Dining" which includes Applebee's, so I would take any actual information you receive here with a grain of (garlic) salt. But there's a little whimsy, if you need kitschy garlic merch...

Appreciate the help and advice given on where to stay on a trip down the Pacific Coast Highway. Upon the advice of the employee, we cancelled a reservation in one place to make one in San Simeon. Would love to thank...